Maid For You 3

Chapter 67

My seat was closer to the head of the table, with the nametag 'Klara' next to Coleman which was the seat on the righthand side of the head.

I sat in my respective spot, and a woman who looked to be in her forties across from me said,

"Gutentag, Ich habe dich noch nie gesehen. Ich heiße Adelheid, und ich bin der Zweitgeborene des Königs. Wie heißen Sie, und woher kommen Sie?"

Shoot, I thought. I had no clue what she had said.

"Um, gutentag," I nodded awkwardly. "I, uh, I don't actually..."

"Hallo, Tante," a familiar deep voice said from behind me. To my great relief, Coleman had entered the scene, and he was taking a seat next to me. "Sie heißt Cassie. Sie ist Calistas Ehrendame, und sie spricht kein deutsch." Coleman looked over at me. "Cassie," he said. "That is my Aunt Adelheid." He looked at his aunt with a smile. "She's my mum's sister, and she speaks English."

"Oh, hello," I said, nodding politely.

"Nice to meet you," Aunt Adelheid said in a thick accent before turning to the man next to her.

"What did she say to me earlier?" I asked Coleman quietly.

"She said," Coleman started. "That she hadn't seen you before, she introduced herself, and asked who you were, which I told her and explained that you couldn't speak German."

"I see," I said. "Thanks, Coleman."

"Of course," he smiled.

"It will be interesting staying here for a week," I said. "When I can't speak any German."

"It's alright," Coleman told me. "See, a lot of the extended family is here tonight for dinner, and they'll come back for Christmas Eve, but most of them will return to their respective homes after tonight. When we are in a smaller group, my Opa tries to speak in English since Calista doesn't know German and my father can't speak it well." He chuckled a little. "But it is very funny when Papa does try to speak in German. His accent is awful."

I could help but laugh a little. "It's hard to imagine him being, I don't know, fumbling a language."

"It is," Coleman said. "Perhaps that's why I find it so amusing." When everyone was seated, King Dieter sat at the head of the table with Klara on his left and Collin on his right, with Princess Calista between her father and Aunt Adelheid and across from Coleman.

As food was served, merry German chatter filled the room.

"Opa likes to seat my dad and Calista together," Coleman said as he leaned over to me. "So that they can at least talk to each other."

"That's thoughtful of him," I said.

Coleman nodded. "Many people in the family do speak English, but they do prefer German. Besides, most of the family lives here in Durmanhein, so we are a bit of the outsiders."

"Really?" I said. "Well, there sure are a lot of people here."

"My mother is the oldest of seven," Coleman told me. "She has three sisters and three brothers."

"But your mom has a different mom than them, doesn't she?" I asked.

"Yes," Coleman said, his face close to mine as he spoke fairly quietly. "Their mother is at all the way down at the foot of the table." I looked down to see a stiff sort of woman. "Her name is Ingrid. Honestly, Calista and I don't know if we should call her Oma or Ingrid or Ma'am, so we usually avoid using a name when we talk to her."

"I see. And what does your mom call her?" I asked, turning back to look at Coleman.

"Ingrid," he said.

"And was she like one of those scary step-mothers that you read in stories?"

Coleman chuckled. "No," he said. "But it wasn't ever like she really was mum's mother, you know? They were cordial, but never close." He then lowered his voice and whispered. "I think part of the problem is that Opa liked my Oma better, and Ingrid knows it."

I rose my eyebrows at the scandal of it. "Really?"

Coleman nodded. "And, my mom is his favorite. It could be that he wanted to compensate since my mum didn't live with her mother, but he certainly liked my mum the best. They get along better than anyone else." He glanced over at Queen Klara chatting joyfully with her father in German. "That's why my family is seated the closest to him."

"Very interesting," I said, smiling. "Maybe I'm awful, but I like knowing these things."

Coleman laughed. "It is rather interesting. I could tell you about family drama and secrets for hours."

I grinned. "Could you now?"

He nodded. "The Kutenhaus side of the family has a lot of drama. Especially compared to the deCourcys. We just have my family, my Uncle Edward and his wife Rebecca, and their son Duarte, who you already know. Oh, and of course my grandma."

"Right. Her," I said. "My favorite person."

Coleman released a soft chuckle. "She's very nice to everyone in the family except my mother; well, I suppose she isn't super sweet to Rebecca, but she isn't nearly as hostile."

"Why does she dislike your mom so much?"

"Because she's ridiculous," Coleman rolled his eyes. "I love her, don't get me wrong, but she is very annoying about certain things."

"I wasn't a fan," I admitted. "Your Grandpa here seems much nicer."

"Yes, he is," Coleman laughed. "He's a very likable fellow. You know, my Grandma on my dad's side tries to hate him but even she can't help but like him when they meet."

"Her?"

"Unbelievable, I know!"

I laughed. As our dinner continued, Coleman told me more family stories, and he would listen in on the conversations around us and translate them for me. Honestly, I had a great time.

Maybe Coleman and I can be friends, I thought. Of course, being more than friends was an impossibility, but I just enjoyed talking to him. Today had perhaps been one of the only times I'd ever talked to him without all the pressure and the stress of me trying to discern my feelings for him and trying to figure out what he felt about me. Maybe Nikolas's accusations against Coleman had helped us—we both were able to move on from that awkwardness without any big commotion. While Nikolas had accused Coleman of just keeping me on the backburner, he really hadn't done anything that alluded to jealousy since he had first found out that I was dating Luke and he had had that outburst in my hallway. Maybe Coleman and I could really just be friends.

At least, I hoped so, because I enjoyed talking with him.

We just clicked.